


Seven Zero Safety

by erpprincess



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21998221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erpprincess/pseuds/erpprincess
Summary: Seven comes to MC for comfort after a particularly dangerous mission.(V route, good ending, excluding after story - mild spoilers if you haven't played it)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	Seven Zero Safety

A gentle buzzing woke her, the screen of her phone lighting up the dark bedroom. She carefully moved the arm resting across her stomach and reached towards her nightstand, wondering who would call at such a late hour. 

“Saeyoung?” She rose and put on a robe over the shorts and tank top she had worn to sleep cradling the phone between her cheek and shoulder. “Is everything okay?” She glanced back at the bed. Thankfully, Jihyun was a sound sleeper. “No, no, it’s fine. I’ll be right there.” 

She ended the call and went directly downstairs to the front door. Saeyoung was there, hair matted and dripping from the rain, dirt and blood on his face and hands, his black, long-sleeved shirt torn in more than a couple places, and his boots caked in mud. It would have been a sight to send anyone into a panic, except she had seen this a few times before.

More times than she would like to admit, but she’d never tell Saeyoung that for fear he would stop coming to her when he needed refuge. “Come inside. Boots off. Wait in the bathroom. I’ll get the first aid kit.” He did as he was told, his silence speaking more than his normal, incessant joking.

As she cleaned and dressed his wounds, she remembered the first time Saeyoung had shown up at her door. Of course, he knew the address. It was Jihyun’s house she had moved into after everything that happened at Magenta. At the time, she wasn’t sure why he chose to come here. She guessed it was her medical experience, but she knew Vanderwood was versed in field aid. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t as important as the fact that coming here let her know he was still alive. 

After seeing to his injuries, she helped him wash his hair and clean himself up. She fetched a clean set of clothes from the guest room where he often stayed and set to making hot tea while he dressed.

“I was glad to see most of that blood wasn’t yours this time,” she said, half smiling.

“Heh, yeah. You should see the other guys.” His voice was tired and flat, and even his jokes didn’t sound sincere. Unless of course, he wasn’t joking. 

She brought the mugs to the living room and saw him wince as he pulled the t-shirt down over the cut on his shoulder. He was still in the bathroom, not having bothered to close the door. Over the years, she had cleaned or bandaged almost every inch of his body, so he didn’t feel the need to hide it.

By the time he got to the sofa, Saeyoung was too tired to even complain about his mug having tea instead of PhD. Pepper in it. He sat next to her, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees as he let the warmth of the cat-shaped mug soak into his hands. Her right leg was curled under her, the other dangling lazily between the cushion and coffee table as she sipped carefully at her own tea.

“Thank you,” he said after a time. 

“I’ve hardly done anything.” 

“You don’t need to. Just… Stay the way you are. Please…”

“Saeyoung?” It wasn’t a surprise that he wasn’t his normal, bubbly self on nights like these, but he wasn’t usually this sentimental. 

He pinched the bridge of his nose before running his hand back through the red, tangled mess of his hair and turning to her. 

“You never ask about my work, and I’m insanely grateful for that. I can’t lie to you, and I don’t want to tell you the truth.” 

She set her mug down and leaned forward to rest a hand on his arm. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. I worry about you like crazy, but it’s enough that you feel safe coming here.”

Sighing heavily, he put his mug on the table and unceremoniously turned and collapsed onto her lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in the folds of her robe wrapped around chest. She could feel his breathing get heavier as he tried to muffle what were surely tears. Her arms naturally embraced him; one hand running gently through his hair and the other offering comfort across his shuddering shoulders.

They stayed there, his breathing slowing as she hummed a lullaby her mother had sung to her as a child. 

“Hey,” Saeyoung started, turning his head but refusing to move from his position.

“Hmmm?”

“I don’t have the right to ask, but… Will you promise me something?”

“Of course. You know I’d do anything for you.”

He raised up slightly in order to look her in the eyes. “If we find him--”

“When,” she corrected. “When we find him.”

He smiled weakly. “Right. When we find him… will you… Will you care for him, too?”

The question caught her off guard. Not because it was a difficult one to answer, but because the answer seemed so obvious to her that she couldn’t believe Saeyoung would even need to ask it. She’d learned the secret too late, but after what she had gone through with Mint Eye, Saeyoung and Jihyun had told her everything.

“Of course I will. There was never any question.” She held him tighter and placed a firm but gentle kiss on the top of his head. “Just rest now. You’ve earned this much.”

***

Jihyun woke to the sunlight flooding into their bedroom through the large windows that faced the east and, for a moment, fear set in. It quickly subsided when he noticed her robe and phone were missing as well. 

He came downstairs to find Saeyoung cuddled on the sofa with his wife, both fast asleep, as if she were a mother holding a child fearful of nightmares or monsters under the bed. It was a side no one else ever saw of the comical hacker, private and vulnerable, but the sight eased the guilt of Jihyun’s past mistakes ever so slightly. He pulled the afghan from the armchair and covered them, careful not to wake Saeyoung, who he knew desperately needed the peaceful respite. 

He left them and started to head back upstairs, pausing at the base of the staircase to glance back. His new love may have started him on the road to recovering from his relationship with Rika, but it was Saeyoung, he knew, who would ultimately determine whether he was truly forgiven.

For now, at least, he was content with the fact that the younger boy found peace here. He deserved it.


End file.
